A Fulfilling Day with Soccer for Hope

For more than a decade, the LMU men's soccer program has taken a break from preseason training for one day to offer their time, presence and soccer knowledge at the Soccer For Hope Mission Viejo Annual Soccer Camp.

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. For more than a decade, the LMU men's soccer program has taken a break from preseason training for one day to offer their time, presence and soccer knowledge at the Soccer For Hope Mission Viejo Annual Soccer Camp. In 2013, the women's team joined in as well and, on Monday, both Lion teams once again, spent a day connecting with community youth.

Soccer For Hope is a non-profit organization focusing on pediatric cancer research and family support. Since its inception in 1997, Soccer For Hope has progressed from an annual local event in Southern California to a nationwide charity that benefits thousands of children and their families. The Mission Viejo camp is one of a handful of annual events run by the organization to help raise funds and awareness in the fight against cancer.

"It means everything to us," Soccer For Hope founder and cancer survivor, Oliver Wyss, said of the LMU teams spending a day with the capers. "First of all, without them, we couldn't do it. And second, it shows our young campers what they want to become and strive for to be college athletes and to be taught by them is a fantastic role model system."

For LMU men's soccer senior Dylan Seedman, the outing was also a return to the fields he grew up playing on. For women's freshmen Charlee Pruitt and Aubrielle Camacho, getting to spend a day coaching kids after a long week of double days was a fun change of pace. And for all of the LMU soccer players, a day giving back to a next generation of collegiate soccer hopefuls is one they will never forget.